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Whether you’re studying for an undergraduate degree or have returned to education to gain your online masters in public administration, there are many great ways to boost your income as a student and get yourself a little bit of extra cash to spend or save. With tuition fees at an all-time high, it’s no surprise that more students are looking for ways to improve their financial situation as they study. We’ve listed some of the best ways for students to make an extra income online.

Paid Surveys

If you don’t mind watching videos and answering questions about new products, marketing materials and more, then you could make some money from answering paid surveys online. Although you’ll never become a millionaire from taking online surveys, it can be a quick, easy and convenient way to earn an extra few dollars when your bank balance is low.

Blogging

If you enjoy writing and sharing your experiences with others, then you might want to consider becoming a student blogger. With a variety of different blogging platforms to choose from where you can get started for free, it’s never been easier to start making an extra income as a student. Bloggers can earn money from pay-per-click advertising, sell products at an e-commerce store, paid content, eBooks and more.

Sell Online

Whether you’ve upgraded to a new laptop for your online MPA program or have loads of old clothes that you no longer wear, selling your old things online can be a great way to make an extra income whilst at college. When it comes to selling online, there really is no limit to what you can make money from, whether it’s your old textbooks, gadgets, or kitchen utensils!

Offer an Online Service

Another great way to make an income online as a student is to offer an online service. For example, if you can create stunning websites you could set up your services as a graphics or web designer online to make an income. However, be aware that making money as a freelancer offering services online can often be very competitive.

Review Sites and Apps for Cash

If you are amongst the first of your friends to try out a new website or app, then you may be able to do it for cash. Platforms such as User Testing pay everyday people to test out and review all kinds of different websites, with each review taking around 20-30 minutes and earning the user $10.

Publish an eBook

Whether you have some great ideas for a self-help book for students or enjoy writing fiction, it’s never been easier to make money as an author today. As a student, you have the advantage of being good at researching and writing, so why not consider writing and selling your own eBook to make an income online? The best thing about eBooks as an income source is that you only need to write them once, but you’ll earn money from every sale.

Would you like to add to this list? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

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If you currently work as a business administrator, you will be happy to know that you can also earn a second income using a variety of methods. Having an online MBA degree, which was obtained using one of the many online MBA programs with Northeastern University, will pay dividends for your future, and not just on the career ladder. If you are looking to take advantage of your business administration experience by trying to earn a second income online, have a look at some of the ways below that will let you do exactly that.

1. Become a Part-Time Writer

All websites online require good quality written content to entertain their readers, and that means there is plenty of space for you to offer your writing services. Even if you do not have sufficient experience when it comes to writing, there are still many websites out there related to business that are crying out for people just like you. Have a look online for writing jobs and find out for yourself how much money can be made from offering your business administration experience to readers.

2. Start Your Own Online Business

With business administration experience, you already have experience of being able to run a business, so why not take your experience online and start your own? Whether it’s an ecommerce business selling the latest clothing trends, or a simple blog that offers readers your business administration experience in return for donations, there are plenty of business opportunities online that don’t have to take up all of your time, so you can still concentrate on your full-time job.

3. Offer Virtual Assistant Services

Businesses are crying out for virtual assistants so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try to make a second income offering your services. The job varies greatly – one minute you could be on the phone to a customer and the next you could be entering data into a database.

4. Offer Business Advice as a Freelancer

With a ton of experience in the business industry you will be able to offer advice to people wanting to start their own business. You will likely have the most experience in a certain sector of business, whether that is finance or employment, so there isn’t any reason why you can’t become a freelancer and offer those services professionally.

5. Link Building

All websites need back links to better their search engine presence, and to get those they need to hire people to make it happen. There are many ways you can offer link building services for clients, whether that is through guest posting or by simply entering their link in a link directory.

Earning a second income online isn’t hard at all if you look at the above options. There are many other jobs that can be undertaken online and as the internet grows further, there will be even more opportunities for you to be able to earn money.

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Lots of companies are scrambling to get new clients in the ever-shrinking local and global markets. This has necessitated competitive pricing, better services as well as freebies and lots of cash offers. One of the ways these companies are building their clientele is through earning money via referrals.

This is simply a means of earning perks by having your family and friends namedrop or use a specially sent sign-up link to join a service. They can also fill in your name on a slot reserved for ‘referral.’ This is an excellent means of income for lots of people. There are several ways you can earn money via referrals.

I. Refer People to Products You Like

There are lots of quality products in the market that offer referral incentives. Even then you are more likely to make better revenue by referring products you are passionate about. When you like products, it’s easier for you to make a more persuasive appeal to your family and friends.

The more you use a product, the more experience, expertise, and ability you will have to recommend it to your buddies. This makes it easier for you to show its demonstrable value. It’s critical that you research what is required of you before recommending a product to others.

II. Sign-Up & Find your URL

Many referees sign up for referral programs, and then nothing ever happens on their platform. Most reward sites, especially those that offer referrer’s rewards, have a URL stat that you will use to keep track of how you are performing. A typical program involves members who already have an account. The referral program is easy. All you have to do is invite a friend to open a live trading account, and you get paid a bonus as per your friend’s initial deposit and trade volume.

In such a referral program there is no limit to the number of friends you can invite. There are several other types of referrals including forex affiliate, referrer’s networks, or partnership programs that focus specifically on referral marketing. Most referrer’s reward programs are slated in such a way that they have an embedded code which you can simply link to your site.

III. Use Quality Articles & other Resources for Your Audience

While slotting the logo or link with an embedded code on your site will generate organic traffic, having quality content will create a higher traffic and increase conversions. Keep in mind that you have to offer useful content and resources for your audience if they are to follow the link to the referral program.

You have to consider your referral as a form of content marketing. It’s best to avoid a hard sell. Instead, you can rely on a subtle or suggestive recommendation. For example, if the referral reward program is in marketing, it much easier to slot them into marketing related blog posts.

IV. Rely on the Rewarding Company’s Blog

Given that referrals programs are easier to publicize through content marketing it’s easier to rely on the content produced by the company offering the referral program. Visit their site and use their valuable stats, best practices and resources to share on your own site.

This makes your marketing even more persuasive and compelling. You can rewrite the content of your favorite product from the producer’s site then share them on your own site. You can also keep track of the rewarding company’s social media pages and sites for the latest info, launches, upgrades, etc. and use it to market the referral.

V. Use the Product and Share Your Experience

Most companies would love their referrers to use their products then review it for them. However, this isn’t always possible. Sometimes you can simply review the product using the content from other reviewers or making your own insight from the firm’s ads. This strategy is obviously easier to do with some products than with others.

There are a number of ways of going about this. First, you can do it as an experiential. Secondly, you can do it through a step by step instructional method. Thirdly you can do it as an educational moment while offering the option of a Q & A ta the end of the lecture, as well as a call to action.

VI. Simplify a Referral Company’ Program

There are lots of companies with challenging, and seemingly complicated product offers in the market. One of the ways of making money through referrals involves creating tutorials or resources that simplify the process of purchasing or using a particular product and posting the instructional online with links to the program.

There are referral programs created specifically to cater to this market. This mainly works for products that need a customized guide for different markets.

Conclusion

There are also lots of apps that you can use to earn money via referrals by marketing the referrer’s link or embedded codes. These include Referral Candy, Friendly, LoyaltyLion, S Loyalty: Refer-a-Friend, Ambassador, Forewards as well as Referrify. Overall referral programs are a simple way to make some “extra” cash. If you’re already sharing about your favourite products, tools or services then see if the company that produces it offers a reward for recommending your friends.

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We often read on the web about dotcom moguls who quit their job to live free and happily in the marvelous world of internet. For a while, I was skeptical about these crazy stories until I met a few of these bloggers personally. Still, I can totally understand why some of you are not too convinced it’s possible to literally live from your computer.

I recently dug into my network to find people who actually decided to increase their income and live a better life by creating a lucrative sideline. Through these five stories, I want to show you how it is possible to put your knowledge and talent to work and make more money than you are earning today. You can keep your job and make more income… it truly works!

I’m starting with Matt’s story because I believe it is the most accessible and incredible at the same time. I met this guy through my master mind group (read more about this story here) about year ago. He was like most readers on this blog: a guy with a job and a website trying to figure out how to make a few bucks from it. At the beginning, I remember he wasn’t making much. In fact, his first income report (July 2012) showed a net profit of $27.13. Trust me, you don’t want to convert this amount into an hourly wage! But 18 months later, he reported a net profit of $971.10 working about the same hours he used to when he started.

A thousand a month is certainly not enough to enable anybody to retire from their cubicle. But the point is exactly that: look at how this guy is putting his free time to work and earn $12,000 more in net income each year. This is better than any promotion you can get. What is really neat about his small business model is that it can be done by anybody! He didn’t do anything extraordinary, he just systematically applied what he learned month after month.

His main sources of income are split as follow:

#1 Keyword research service: Matt understood very clearly how to efficiently work with Long Tail Platinum Pro – keyword research software. Most people who want to build a niche site lack time to search for keywords or are very bad at finding the right ones. Matt’s keyword research service is a hassle free keyword research report delivered by email within seconds.

#2 Adsense: Using his own talent to find good keywords, Matt is building small niche sites and earns about $400-$500 per month from Adsense with these sites. Nothing fancy or complicated, just a good concept applied systematically.

#3 Affiliate Sales: He uses his blog to promote tools he uses to build his websites. This is the most common practice on the internet but it works!

By the way, on top of working full time and having this side gig, Matt is also a husband and father of two great kids.

Another guy from my Master Mind Group is an engineer who works lots of hours both at work and on his sites. Just to make sure he will burn out, Jon is also a father ;-). Yet, he finds enough time to build a relatively passive income business on the sideline.

He successfully built a resource for student debt consolidation. But instead of stopping his success at this point, he worked on this model and created a complete process to build niche website (remember, he is an engineer).

He actually uses his main talent at work to build a sustainable business. Through his efficient processes, he offers now two great search engine ranking systems. The first one finds expired domains and build links from it to your niche site. The second is a complete private blog network to build links and increase your ranking.

While his numbers are fairly impressive, Jon has no intention to quit his job at the moment. The thing is that he built a business that doesn’t require too much of his time and he can simply cash in from both work and his sideline. The beauty of his model is also the high price he can charge through both services. You don’t need many clients each month to reach 12K/month when you charge up to $599 for a full package!

The next two stories don’t include fabulous numbers and they are not reported. While I have a pretty good idea of how much they make since I’m in the same business as them, I won’t disclose my evaluation either.

Tom started 1 or 2 years after me in the Canadian personal finance blog universe. He quietly followed my path and started to build an online blog empire like mine. While I’ve always been pretty upfront with my empire, he remained quiet about it. All I can say is that he owns his share of the web and keeps making money from his financial websites.

I know he has a good job and kids. Yet, he finds time to make more money on the side through his blog. He uses multiple partnerships and hires writers to run his empire. He is now in a better position to enjoy life while raking in a few bucks every month.

I don’t know how he founded his first blog purchases but all I can say is that you can easily achieve a blog empire if you reinvest your profits for a while… or, like us, you borrow a few bucks to make your first purchase! I don’t know which method he used, but one thing is for sure, he owns a great portfolio of websites today and earns passive income better than any promotion he could have gotten at work. He preferred to work extra hours for himself instead of giving them to his boss – wise decision.

Kyle’s story is quite interesting too as he is a young and motivated teacher who thought financial education is sorely lacking in our society. Since his day job income potential is pretty limited (not that he is making a bad salary but he can’t really get promotions year after year), creating another source of income was the perfect plan for his situation. I bet it’s the case for many of you!

He even wrote a great book for students (I strongly suggest you buy this book for your kids!) called More Money for BEER and Textbooks. He explains how savvy students can get more for their money and keep partying over the weekend (we all know students don’t study over the weekend, been there, done that 😉 ).

Kyle is making money from a blog empire as well, while earning royalties from his book and now recently launched a pod cast. Guess who his latest interview was with…; Tom from Canadian Finance Blog!

He runs a similar business model as mine as he also partnered up with his best buddy; Justin (they even wrote the book together!). The two of them are doing remarkable work in bringing simple financial concepts to the community and helping them understand how to manage their finance. This is another great success story of a good side gig.

Don’t forget to get the book!

ME!

Well… I guess you already know about my story now ;-). Since 2008, I average about 100K in gross income from my online empire. I have a partner so you have to divide this number in two but still, 50K gross income per year is not bad.

I use my extra money to pay off my debts, travel and pay for utility bills. The other great thing is that I always get a premium computer or iPad since I need them to work with. It’s not always easy to work full time at a very demanding job, being the father of three and keeping my wife happy by cooking supper on Fridays and Saturdays ;-).

More seriously, I’ve slowed down with my business since our third child arrived but I can now see how to manage my schedule and get back full force with my online business. In the meantime, the money kept coming in and while it was tougher these past two years, it still a very generous sideline. I can’t imagine how I could earn this much by working more for someone else!

Because here’s the key: if you have a passion, take a few hours to work for yourself each week and you’ll start earning more than working for anybody else!

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Would you focus on business, travel, or look for a job? What would you do if you were 25 again?

I need some help with making a decision in September. I’m not sure of what to do next and I would love to hear from you guys on how you would react in this situation.

Here’s the quick background info…

In September our lease expires. I rented a place with my cousins about an hour away from Toronto in a college town. This has been the best year of my life socially and personally. It’s time to move on though. Moving back with my parents is the obvious option since I already spend most weekends at home and my parents love (I think) having me there.

As for other options…

I rented out my condo. I bought this as a rental property but lived in it for a year. It’s now being rented out and generating money. I can’t go back there.

I can move in with other friends, but I’m not so sure I’m impressed by any of the current offers.

I make my income through freelancing, my own blog, a part-time job, and investments (yes, very random).

I love to travel. I have been on many trips and would ideally prefer to travel more in the future.

I’m just not sure of what to do next in September at 25. Apart of me is saying that I need to get a job and be a real adult. Another part is saying to grow my business. I’m also feeling the travel bug coming on once again.

Let’s get specific.

Career.

Well, I don’t have a career to be honest. After I got my degree in business, I never applied for a job. I worked hard throughout college to ensure that I could graduate with zero student loans. This allowed me to be pretty carefree after college.

However, I have been thinking of applying for a job for the fall. I’ve already applied to a few gigs that excited me.

The good news is that I can be picky. I have money saved and have no student loans. I don’t have to stress about earning on a paycheck.

The forces pushing me in this direction are the usual suspects: family, society, and friends. Everyone that I know has a 9-5 gig. I’m the only person trying something different. I’m constantly reminded that I need to get a real job and be a real person.

My biggest concern here is that I’ll get stuck in a vicious cycle where I hate my job, but I rely on the steady income. I’m worried that I’m going to hate every single aspect of the job and that I’m only going to enjoy the added income. I don’t want to hate my life. This thought would keep me up at night.

Would you find a career in your 20s or avoid the trap of the steady paycheck?

Business.

I have a huge post on this coming up next week.

I can keep on going or put things on auto-pilot.

I can consider new blogs, new projects, more freelancing, and so on.

On the flip side, I can put everyone on auto-pilot while I get a real job and try other ventures.

Travel.

I can travel more and see what this world has to offer.

I love to travel, as already mentioned. I’ve been on all sorts of random trips the past few years:

Spring Break in Dominican.

Backpacking through Europe (mainly Poland where I practised my speaking).

Miami for Wrestlemania.

Austin, Texas for work.

I would like to travel more. Ideally, somewhere I can work on my Spanish and become better at speaking it. I also have been pondering the idea of teaching English and actually living somewhere for an extended period of time.

The obvious negative to traveling is that it would interfere with business ventures and prevent me from starting a career. On the positive side, I would see the world and explore more.

So what would you do in this case? I’m open to all ideas.

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